Soccer Time in AZ

Austen and I got to leave the cold behind this past weekend and travel to Arizona for a soccer tournament. We left Friday morning after we dropped the girls at school and got there just in time to pick up our "rental car," check into the hotel and change before traveling another 35 minutes to the fields. 

First, the rental car process was amazing. A friend tipped me off to the chaos of the rental car process in AZ two weeks earlier and told me to try Turo - basically the VRBO of rental cars. We rented a BMW convertible for $100 less and it probably saved us about two hours worth of time. Every one of Austen's teammates had stories about their hours of waiting in line for a rental car in AZ. Our process was super easy. Take a short shuttle to pre-flight parking, look for your car in the row/space given and unlock the lockbox with the provided code to be on your way. We had a pass to get out of the pre-flight parking for free and the whole process probably took 15 minutes. Super easy.

The fields on the other hand were not easy. They were, however, gorgeous. A huge complex of baseball, soccer, volleyball, basketball and pickleball courts with restaurants and food trucks. But with only two entrances into the very crowded complex, it took forever each morning to actually drive in and park. Plus, there were so many fields with only one entrance (because they made you pay each day to enter) so you could be walking 10-15 minutes to your field. 

Anyway, the boys won their first game 2-0. Austen had a nice goal with a turnaround fake and shot but he was still in a foul mood after the game, lamenting how he didn't even break a sweat because the subs also got 50% playing time at this tournament (which since it was National League we thought was just for the top players). Maybe the next day would be more fair with them scheduled to play a very good Las Vegas team. Austen quickly got over it as the boys bonded over a quick dinner and then cheered on their goalkeeper who was competing in the Goalkeeper Wars at the field (each goal keeper has two 6-minute halves to shoot on the opposing goalkeeper and defend their own goal with the winner advancing to the next round). Their keeper made it through four rounds on Friday to advance to the winners bracket on Saturday evening. The boys were pumped. 

But, that adrenaline did not carry over into Saturday. They had an early morning game and went down 1-0 in the first five minutes because they got called for a foul in the box so the other team got a PK which they converted. Austen did have one good opportunity as he traveled down the right side of the field after a ball sent his way, flicking it over his defender and then controlling the ball by passing it to his feet with his head but just before he was about to take a shot which would have for sure been a goal, the defender poked it away with his toe and made it a corner kick.  After that, it was time for the subs to come in. So pretty soon it was 3-0 at the half. Las Vegas scored another goal in the second half to make it  4-0 for the final score. Tough way to go down against a good team. 

Saturday afternoon was probably Austen's favorite time though. Top Golf was right next to our hotel so since I had the foresight to book some bays a week before, the boys were able to golf together while the parents hung out in the sunshine at the Top Golf bar. We all had dinner together that evening before racing back to catch the final of the Keeper Wars. Their goalie won it all (he's amazing!) and will be competing at Nationals in Florida in July. Now the boys have some incentive to work much harder so they can all go and compete (and cheer their goalie on). 

Sunday was an early game too against a team from Portland. They weren't that good. Subs got to play too. We ended the game 2-0 with an assist from Austen off a beautiful corner. Right after the game ended we hightailed it out of there to catch our flight home. 

It was a quick trip and even though the soccer wasn't that great, the Vitamin D was wonderful!